Regional Media
Press Slow to Report Monday Night's Swedish Riots
February 21st, 2017 11:39 AM
The Tuesday Morning Briefing at the New York Times tells us that President Donald Trump, at his rally in Melbourne, Florida on Saturday, "claimed that Sweden was experiencing a crisis because of immigration" and had "suggested that a terrorist attack had occurred there the night before." Concerning the latter, Trump said no such thing, nor did he "suggest" it. Concerning the former, if Sweden's…
AP Bitter That Boeing Plant Obama's NLRB Tried to Stop Didn't Go Union
February 16th, 2017 12:30 PM
Meg Kinnard at the Associated Press betrayed quite a bit of unhappiness Wednesday evening and Thursday morning in her coverage of workers' decisive rejection of a union organizing effort at Boeing Corp.'s 787-10 production plant in North Charleston, South Carolina. In two very similar reports found at the wire service's Big Story site, Kinnard solely blamed "Southern reluctance toward…
O'Reilly Rips Press Coverage of ICE Raids: 'A Low Point in Journalism'
February 14th, 2017 8:20 PM
In his opening monologue and first guest conversation Monday evening, Fox News's Bill O'Reilly sharply criticized the national and local press coverage of the past week's immigration raids. In his Talking Points Memo opener, O'Reilly observed the press's utter failure to headline the fact that the raids targeted criminal illegal aliens, describing that failure not as press bias, but as "blatant…
Media Furious That Trump Got No Questions About Flynn at Presser
February 14th, 2017 11:06 AM
One of the more amusing yet pathetic spectacles of the Trump administration’s early weeks — the ongoing establishment press fury at the richly deserved lack of respect it is getting from the President and his press secretary — neared meltdown yesterday. This occurred because Donald Trump wasn't asked a question everyone knew he wouldn't answer if asked about Michael Flynn at a joint press…
Google Highlights Obscure Site's Claim DAPL Protesters Being 'Framed'
February 11th, 2017 4:17 PM
This post was going to be about the establishment press's handling of the story of the mountainous and environmentally dangerous accumulation of trash left behind by Dakota Access Pipeline protesters. When the spring thaw arrives, that waste threatens to seriously pollute the Cannonball River — yes, the very river protesters are claiming they wish to protect from pipeline spills. What's…
AP Fact Check on Travel Ban-Halting Judge Is Incomplete, Watered-Down
February 7th, 2017 11:53 PM
Given its usual tendencies, I suppose we should be grateful that the Associated Press deigned to fact-check federal judge James Robart at all. The AP's Eric Tucker reported on Monday that the Western Washington District Court judge's claim — that no arrests of foreign nationals have occurred since 9/11 from the seven countries which had been subject to President Trump's temporary travel ban…
SF Paper Downplays Minimum Wage Hikes Despite Restaurants Closing
January 28th, 2017 8:28 PM
A January 24 item in the East Bay Times, which serves the San Francisco East Bay area, wondered: "What’s behind the spate of recent restaurant closures?" While it didn't ignore the problem, the article made only glancing references to current and planned increases in state and city minimum wages. Preliminary year-end statistics at the U.S. government's Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Bay…
Oregonian Hypes Bogus Study Claiming Racism, Sexism in Trump Voters
January 14th, 2017 3:15 PM
In a January 5 column at the Oregonian, Douglas Perry promoted a study which claims to support the leftist meme that Donald Trump won the presidential election based on racial bigotry and sexism. It seems likely that the study to which Perry referred will become a frequent reference point for the left, so its fatal flaws need to be addressed. That's especially true because Vox.com founder Ezra…
American Univ. Prof: 'Russian Meddling' Must Mean 'A New Election'
January 13th, 2017 3:15 PM
Here we go again. A month ago, Robert Baer, a leading coddler of Iran who is an "Intelligence and Security Analyst" while pontificating at CNN, contended that alleged Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election meant that the nation needs "to vote again." Now The Hill has given space to Chris Edelson, an assistant professor of government in American University's School of Public…
Shhh! Six Months After Brexit Vote, UK 'Has World's Top Economy'
January 7th, 2017 8:46 AM
In June, when UK voters decided to leave the European Union in the "Brexit" referendum, the U.S. press told the American people that the UK economy would suffer greatly as a result. Moody's economist and max Hillary Clinton contributor Mark Zandi predicted that it would be "going down the rabbit hole." At CBS News, Mellody Hobson said that "they're acting as if a recession is a foregone…
Initial AP Coverage of Facebook Torture Avoids Almost All Details
January 5th, 2017 11:19 AM
The Associated Press's initial Wednesday evening report on the horrific beating and torture of a mentally handicapped 18 year-old in Chicago is woefully and predictably weak.
A comparison of what Fox 32 in Chicago was reporting at the time of AP's story will demonstrate how much the wire service chose to ignore.
AP: Berlin Attacker 'Troubled,' 'Fell Into Crime'; Facts Say Otherwise
December 28th, 2016 10:47 PM
On December 22, roughly eight hours before Anis Amri was killed by Italian police, Bouazza Ben Bouazza at the Associated Press published an item portraying the Berlin truck massacre attacker who killed at least 12 and injured almost 50 others as a "troubled" man who came to Europe "in hopes of a better life," but "fell into crime instead."
Later text completely refutes those opening claims, and…
Dubious AP Claim: 'Thousands' of Protesters Tried to Sway GOP Electors
December 21st, 2016 1:01 PM
As one would expect, there is plenty to criticize in Stephen Ohlemacher's Monday evening coverage of Donald Trump's achievement of an Electoral College majority earlier in the day.
This post will concentrate on Ohlemacher's questionable counting of "protesters." A separate post looks at a very revealing failure in the wire service story's photo collection, in a graphic showing how the…
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NY Times, AP Mum on 9/11 Resumé Fabrications of Faithless Elector
December 18th, 2016 7:51 AM
On December 5, the New York Times published an op-ed column by Republican Texas Elector Christopher Suprun entitled "Why I Will Not Cast My Electoral Vote for Donald Trump." The Times celebrated Suprun's "courageous stand" in a December 6 editorial.
In that op-ed, Suprun claimed that "Fifteen years ago, as a firefighter, I was part of the response to the Sept. 11 attacks against our nation." The…